Increases to the Renewable Heat Premium Payments

The government has announced that they are going to increase the amount of money that can be claimed with the Renewable Heat Premium Payment vouchers. These are the vouchers that are given to domestic home-owners who fit the qualifying, heat producing technologies to their homes. They can be claimed after the measure has been installed.

Any home can qualify for a voucher for solar thermal panels, however only homes that are not currently on the gas mains network can qualify for the other measures; Biomass or wood fuel boilers, Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps.

Changes to the Renewable Heat Premium Payments

As of the 20th May 2013 the following changes have been made:

solar thermal – Increased from £300 to £600

biomass boiler – Increased from £950 to £2,000

air to water source heat pump – Increased from £850 to £1,300

ground source or water source heat pump – Increased from £1250 to £2,300

How to claim the Renewable Heat Premium Payment Vouchers

To claim now you need to have a Green Deal Assessment completed before the submitting a claim for a payment voucher. The increase in the voucher is to offset this extra cost on the householder for getting the Green Deal Assessment.

Other than this the process is the same; firstly you will need to submit a claim to the Energy Saving Trust to get your voucher. Then you need to get the measure fitted and here’s a quick check list of things to think about:

The measure must be fitted by an MCS accredited installer

You need to have permission of the owner of the property and it is available for new builds although only for private property owners and not developers

Check that you don’t need planning permission and if you do apply

Your loft should be insulated to 250mm

Getting your Renewable Heat Premium Payment Money

Once you have had the measure fitted you will have a certain amount of time to claim your voucher and receive your money. The time frame depends on the measure you’re having fitted. For some Heat Pumps there is a requirement to have a meter fitted to record how well the heat pump is working. In this case, 20% of the payment might be withheld until this has been inspected.

What if I have already received a Renewable Heat Premium Payment Voucher?

If you have already received your money, there is no way that you can claim any more money espite the increase available to those claiming now. If you have not submitted an expense claim form to the Energy Saving Trust you can withdraw your application and reapply to get the new grant levels – but you’ll have to get a Green Deal assessment.